


A Generous Adjective

by imnotyourhamilson



Series: Revenge of the Nerds, Tailor's Apprentices, Aspiring Lawyers, and Everyone Inbetween [2]
Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Developing Friendships, Gender-Neutral Pronouns, M/M, Non-binary character, Social Justice, alex is an asshole i love him, but let me live, i realize that putting the founding fathers in a college au is "illogical", john is so cute and shy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-29
Updated: 2016-06-29
Packaged: 2018-07-19 02:15:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,858
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7340524
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imnotyourhamilson/pseuds/imnotyourhamilson
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“What is this?” </p><p>“A letter to the dean.”</p><p>“I thought you said-”</p><p>“I <em>know</em> what I said-”</p><p>“<em>You</em> said it was a bad idea.”</p><p>“Okay… But it doesn’t hurt to try.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Generous Adjective

**Author's Note:**

> i just really love the idea of these nerds fighting crimes and yeah *strums guitar* social justice so yeah enjoy lol

For the first time since his arrival at this university, and c’mon it’s almost _November_ , John is not going to spend his Friday night in his dorm room watching Dexter, (even though he’s already watched the complete series… twice). Okay, maybe three times but he's not going to actually _tell_ people that. 

“Okay, in all technicality, we can’t really get in trouble for this but - uh, if the cops show up… Just _run_. I’ve been over here this late at night a couple times before and almost got arrested for _trespassing past closing time_ , or whatever. But, it’s fine.”

“Arrested?”

Alex chuckles lowly under his breath, squinting in the dark and leading the way up the hill towards Bascom Hall where their target was located. “I’ve done my fair share of risky activities, okay?” Alex laughs. “Let’s keep it at that.”

“Fair share?” John whispers, scanning the vicinity nervously. 

“It’s fine, it’s fine. Don’t worry about it,” Alex rushes, gaining speed to make it up the hill. He grunts lightly and then curses, taking sight of the _godforsaken_ rock that was creating conflict on campus. 

It was a decent sized rock, (more like a tiny bolder), and let’s just say, it was open for interpretation; meaning, anyone can splatter whatever they wanted on that rock. Whether it was art from the campus’ jazz man or an advertisement for the downtown farmer’s market… the rock was fair game and you could cover it however you wanted. However, that also meant that anti-LGBT assholes were allowed to take part in the open interpretation. 

_**You can’t use our bathrooms** _

“ _Fuck_ ,” Alex said, the “k” harsh in the back of his throat. “What makes them think they can do this? I mean it’s obvious who these assholes are talking about. And it’s not like we can take this to admin. They aren’t gonna do _shit_. They never do.”

John finally lays his eyes on the rock once he caught up with Alex. He stares, his jaw locked.

“Are you not infuriated right now?” Alex shouts, turning to face John.

“No, yeah,” John shakes his head, “This is actually the first time I’m seeing this, Alex. It’s a lot to take in.”

“God, just looking at it makes me angry.”

“What are we gonna do?” John asks, his eyes glued to the ignorant statement. Then, he perks up, eyes wide and brain turning with an idea. “Alex, we could just paint over it! Anyone’s allowed to so… Why not us?”

“Well, I just took inventory of how much paint I have in stock right now and I am at an all time low.”

“We could write a letter to the dean! And- uh… And threaten him- Like, uh if he doesn’t deal with this-”

“John…”

“But of course we would do it in a respectable way with actual sentences and really long words-”

“John, did you _not_ just hear what I said before? Admin isn’t going to do anything! They’ve ignored like, the majority of my angry emails,” Alex spits, shifting his body towards John so that he didn’t have to look at the rock.

“We could find out who did this,” John suggests, his hands trembling. He stares at the tremors, folding his fingers into his palm harshly to create a fist. “I swear to God, if I could lay my hands on them-”

“You’re not gonna do that,” Alex says lowly, his words hard with fear. He steps forward, carefully placing his own trembling hands on John’s shoulders. “I mean, don’t get me wrong… I wanna do that too. But that’s stupid. Don’t be stupid.”

“I’m not being _stupid_ ,” John retorts, jerking his body to free himself from Alex’s grip. “I’m fucking angry.”

Alex laughs hysterically before spitting, “And, by the way, all of your ideas _suck_.”

“Well, do you have any bright ideas?” John interrogates.

“What do _you_ want _me_ to do?”

“ _I_ am not asking you to deal with this on your own,” John fires back. “Okay, obviously, we should contact whatever LGBT group campus has.”

“And since I’m in SVU- Wait, hold on,” Alex says, facing John and staring at him with an exasperated expression. “Really?”

“What?” The other college student exclaims.

“Have you really been spending _that_ much time in your dorm room that you don’t know what the LGBT group here is called?” Alex asked, hands on his hips.

“I, uh- Well, you see, I,” John stammers.

“SGE,” Alex says deliberately and once John gives him yet another confused look Alex rolls his eyes and groans, (quite dramatically which is duly noted). “Sexuality and Gender Equality, John, I mean c’mon.”

“I’m sorry, I just… Don’t get out much,” John whispers in exasperation, his breath visible in the night air and then he adds so quietly that Alex didn’t even catch the muttered words, “You’re my first friend.”

Alex rolls his eyes, yet again, before pulling his phone out of his back pocket. He immediately starts typing and John moves closer, curious as to what he was up to. “I can feel you breathing on me, you nerd,” he whines, lightly pushing John away from himself. “And since you can’t _ask_ , I’m texting the rest of SVU to see if we can meet so we can deal with this whole thing.”

“Right now?”

 _”Of course._ You got something better to do?”

Yes, John would never admit to Alex that he never had plans in the first place, because c’mon, who confesses to potential friends that your own social anxiety prevents you from leaving your dorm room every once in awhile?

So, John swallows nervously before asking, “Did you just say SVU?”

Alex shrugs and shoots him a bothered expression. 

“Is that like, the Special Victims Unit?”

Alex then laughs out loud, hand reaching up to massage his temples in frustration. “I’m gonna fucking kill you.”

**\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

“Okay, okay okay,” Alex says quickly, holding his hands up in the air and immediately silencing the excited chatter in the room. “I emailed the president of SGE and they’re teaming up with us to get this dealt with-”

“Later though right?” John asks. “It’s like 1 in the morning right now.”

“Wait, wait, Alex- You still haven’t introduced us to your new boyfriend.”

“He’s _not_ my boyfriend-”

“Yeah, you can’t just barge into _my_ dorm room with this kid and not introduce us.”

Lafayette smiles warmly at John, shifting their weight on the bed before waving. “I’m Lafayette, they/them/theirs, _of course_. French and International Relations.”

John smiles nervously and waves. He feels welcomed just from the warmth in Lafayette’s eyes but that doesn’t completely eliminate the general fear that normally shook him whenever he was engaged in an interaction. He takes a deep breath. Then another. Everything’s _fine_. You’re doing _fine_.

“And I’m Hercules!” A deep voice interrupts. A largely built man who was sitting at the foot of Lafayette’s bed grins before setting down what seems to be a sketchbook of some sort. “The brains and the looks of the group. I am majoring in Fashion Design-”

Lafayette giggles at those words, twisting on their bed so that they hung upside down. Laf’s curly hair cascades down and their cheeks are red from amusement.

“If you don’t _shut up_ ,” Hercules whines, turning his head to glare at his giggling friend. “You all make fun… But what are you gonna do when you get a rip in your damn pants? Huh? Call a tailor? One you don’t trust?”

John laughs at the interaction and Alex just groans, very _very_ loudly. “We _really_ don’t have time for introductions. Okay? This is John. Bio and Pre-med. Are we done now? Can we talk about what’s really important right now? Small talk is extraneous and futile, especially with this problem we’ve got in our hands.”

“Okay, rude,” Lafayette pouts. “John is new and the situation has been taken care of-”

“The situation has _not_ been taken care of,” Alex laments, shaking his head and flopping down on the opposite bed. “I mean, the stuff on the rock is _still there_.”

John stands awkwardly by the door. He shifts his weight and stares at the scene in front of him. He feels like he’s watching a movie that he’s not apart of, and god, his own anxiety is not helping _at all_. He sighs to himself. _They do not hate you. They just met you. They **do not** hate you._

“John, come sit next to me,” Alex suggests but not without receiving a few coos him Lafayette and Hercules. 

John reluctantly agrees and he quickly crosses the floor, carefully sitting next to Alex on the mattress and yeah, _next_ is a generous adjective because John allows at least a foot, (maybe a foot and a half), of room between them. He can’t even control his own breathing around strangers; imagine what would happen if John accidentally brushes Alex’s knee. _Alex’s knee_ which- well, which doesn’t have really any significance but the thought alone of touching Alex is making John’s mind race, shut _up,_ brain.

“Okay, what do you think of this line? Too much? Too little? Because I totally think I can add more- ...Maybe?” Alex presses, leaning towards John and shoving his phone in the other college student’s face. 

“What is this?” John wonders, staring at the blue screen with squinting eyes. He lightly grabs Alex’s phone and begins to scroll through the extensive amounts of paragraphs.

“A letter to the dean.”

“I thought you said-”

“I _know_ what I said-”

“ _You_ said it was a bad idea.”

“Okay… But it doesn’t hurt to try.”

John smiles and glances at Alex quickly, who was picking at a loose strand in his tshirt, avoiding eye contact. He could say something like _oh, wow I guess I was right_ or _oh, wow we’re actually on the same page here_ but that would mean opening his mouth and saying _words_ to Alex that might reveal-

 _Nope, nope nope. Don’t say anything- well, don’t say anything that will ruin whatever_ this _might be- whatever this is becoming._

“So, uhm”, John mumbles while reading Alex’s letter. But before he could even get another word out, a screech from the other bed rips into the room, startling the two college students. 

“ _Bon dieu_ ,” Lafayette whines, squirming underneath Herc’s sudden weight. Hercules pounces on his friend, giggling like a child and leaving harmless blows on Lafayette’s arms. “Fuck off, _bite_ , stop punching me!” 

“Oh, c’mon, Laf, it’s called platonic bdsm,” he cooed. “You love it.”

“Will you two stop acting like _children_ ,” Alex barks, then turns back to John to point at a certain sentence. “This one is really good, read it carefully.”

“So, uhm, how does one _join_ Student Voice Union?” John asks tentatively, hands fidgeting. 

Alex looks up from the screen, eyes wide with excitement. A slow smile creeps on to his face and he just fucking _beams_ because _of course_ the one thing that Alex loves more than talking is adding more people to the small little party he likes to call the revolution. 

“Lafayette,” Alex calls, still smiling at John. “Add him to the roster.”

**Author's Note:**

> ok yes this will eventually develop into something else so yeah stay tuned *tapdances*


End file.
